Corpse Life: Anth History of the Dead · Anthropology
Power and traditions of various cultures.
Different types of death, importance of death, what happens in death, etc.
I found the intellectual value of this course to be more broad than its confined theme might suggest. I felt we routinely investigated sociological and ontological issues that actually re-framed the way I perceive what is it to be human. I honestly see the world in a slightly different way after taking this class - and that, to me, is the sign of a successful course.
We discussed the content regarding lecture such as how we make sense of dead, information we can understand through deceased body positioning and taphonomy, necropolitics, repatriation, and more.
I have learned a lot about human burials and regarding different cultures.
This is my dream class. I think because I had such a rosy opinion of it as a result of my deep engagement with the material before even getting in off the waitlist, I was able to overlook some of the disorganization of the class.
We learned about death (how it is viewed socially now and throughout history, the roles it plays in different cultures, etc).
There is a lot of reading and Professor Crossland goes very fast, but it is a 4 credit course, so that may be expected. Some of the readings were rather intellectual (more difficult, maybe even pretentious) for my taste, but that may not be a problem for other students.
Could be better grading tbh. Scale was a bit interesting
Very interesting course with engaging lectures. Some readings will take a while to digest and think about and really require some close reading.